Staff Writer

Though her father is a successful artist, he always discouraged Pamela Desantis Tachibana from following in his footsteps — but she didn’t listen. 

“I had always aspired to be an artist, but I never thought I could,” Tachibana said. 

So when her parents moved to Maine, Tachibana, now 35, stayed in Connecticut so she could attend Southern Connecticut State University. She enrolled as a journalism student at her father’s suggestion, but was not really interested in pursuing a career in media. 

“What really got me disinterested in journalism was I wasn’t really interested in politics, and I figured no matter what I did I would have to write about politics,” Tachibana said. “I was surrounded by art my whole life. I never learned to draw all that well, but then I found sculpture.”

Tachibana continues writing because she enjoys it, but began to concentrate more on sculpture at college. She never finished her degree and moved to Maine in 1995.

 “When I came here, I just fell in love with Maine and wanted to stay,” the Kennebunk resident said. 

She began studying photography in addition to sculpture at Heartwood College of Art. Eventually, her focus began to shift to the art of portraiture. Tachibana worked as a photographer’s assistant for Chris Smith in Kennebunkport where she learned most of her photography skills.

In 2006, Tachibana earned a degree in studio art with a concentration in printmaking from the University of Southern Maine, where she honed her skills in printmaking on a year’s scholarship to the Peregrine Press in Portland for her outstanding academic performance.

“I loved taking pictures of people,” Tachibana said. “From there I started making portraits out of things.”

Some of Tachibana’s most recent work is a series of inanimate objects, including buttons and scissors she printed through a lithograph process. Using a copy of a black and white photo and oil-based ink, Tachibana said she creates paper plate lithography that resembles a daguerreotype, which was the first successful photographic process in the early 19^th century.

“The process is really labor intensive,” Tachibana said. 

Set-up for the process can take up to three hours and another two hours to build printing plates, Tachibana said. Rather than using chemicals to create the lithograph, she said she prints in “a very green way,” using oils and non-solvents to clean ink off the plates.

After nearly six hours of work she may only have “three decent prints to show,” Tachibana said, but the final print “has spirit,” and expresses the emotion she wants to convey.

“My dad and I always have argued about art. For him, he’s very technical and [his art] has to look exactly like it [appears]. I’m more about feeling than the technical stuff,” Tachibana said. “When I see things I don’t see them for what they are. I see colors and shapes, and I look more for composition to portray a feeling of the history and spirit.”

It is Tachibana’s eye for composition that helps her eye for design, working along side with her husband and his remodeling business. Sitting in the dining room of their more than 200-year-old home, Tachibana said the only original pieces remaining after renovations are the beams along the ceiling and the exterior structure.

Tachibana said she purchased the house prior to dating her husband, but when he first saw the warped floors, he was quick to ask her, “What were you thinking? This means it’s rotten.”

Together they worked piece by piece to renovate the old home. While Tachibana said she used to help her husband with carpentry work, she said since they’ve had children she concentrates more on office paperwork and helps with design.

“Design has always come easy to me,” she said.

The natural stone fireplace in the dining area of their home is one example of their collaborative efforts. She said once she told him what she was envisioning for a design, he was able to do the handy work.

“I have the vision and he has the technical ability,” Tachibana said.

Their collaborative work has been featured in Masa Seko’s Japanese garden displayed in previous Portland Flower Shows. Tachibana said last year she helped her husband design a traditional Japanese teahouse, which is now installed in their back yard, and this year they will design and construct traditional hand hew Japanese furniture.

While Tachibana’s father always discouraged her from art, her children Jett, 8, (a Hebrew name meaning “stone”), Ronin, 6, (a Japanese word meaning “masterless samurai”) and Django, 4 months old (a Roma Gypsy name “John”) are encouraged to express creativity.

During a snow day, the boys helped Tachibana create miniature paper lanterns to cover a strand of lights for when their grandparents visit.

Feeling the crunch of economic times, Tachibana said they made each other’s Christmas gifts this year. Jett wrote poems and riddles for everyone while Ronin drew and colored pictures. Tachibana and her husband constructed a bean toss game for their boys. 

“I think every artist is struggling right now, but making things utilitarian is what people are interested in,” Tachibana said. “I don’t think making art is a luxury, but I think buying it is.”

Tachibana considers her primary job is caring for their three boys, dedicating the majority of her time to them, and putting off attending school for a degree in art therapy or certification in expressive arts. 

“I love my kids too much. I want to be with them all the time,” Tachibana said. 

However, it is her dream to offer expressive arts workshops in the studio barn they are currently planning to build behind their house. The barn would house her art studio and an office for her husband’s renovation business, and Tachibana said she would like to obtain instructor certification and offer yoga classes eventually.